Video Interviews

Living the Classical Life

When we started Apollo’s Fire, I was living on Ramen noodles.”

Grammy®-winner Jeannette Sorrel recounts how she built one of the largest audiences for baroque music in the U.S. despite having no money, no role model and being told that neither audiences nor musicians would accept a woman as a conductor.

She also explains how she leads musicians and audiences alike toward an understanding of a centuries-old aesthetic.

LIVE INTERVIEW AT TANGLEWOOD – July 2017

Jeannette discusses growing up as a female conducting student; her lessons with Leonard Bernstein and Roger Norrington at Tanglewood; her interview with Christoph von Dohnanyi which led to the founding of Apollo’s Fire; her artistic philosophy (Affekt/emotional moods and rhetoric), and more…with Eric Vallière, BSO Assistant Artistic Administrator.

Three of Jeannette's 26 Recordings

BACH Brandenburg & Harpsichord Concertos

Billboard Classical Top 10“A swaggering version… The most is made of the instrumental colours Bach so exhilaratingly put onshow. The keyboard part in the 5th Brandenburg brilliantly played by Sorrell…”
– The Sunday Times (London)

BACH St John Passion

“Consummate skill and artistry”
– New York Times

MOZART Symphony no. 40

“Sorrell is an outstanding Mozartian… Her Mozart achieves a near-perfect combination of real dramatic cogency and the ability to sing.”– FANFARE Record Magazine